Mammary glands exhibit molecular laterality and undergo left–right asymmetric ductal epithelial growth in MMTV-cNeu mice*

Significant left–right (L–R) differences in tumor incidence and disease outcome occur for cancers of paired organs, including the breasts; however, the basis for this laterality is unknown. Here, we show that despite their morphologic symmetry, left versus right mammary glands in wild-type mice have baseline differences in gene expression that are L–R independently regulated during pubertal development, including genes that regulate luminal progenitor cell renewal, luminal cell differentiation, mammary tumorigenesis, tamoxifen sensitivity and chemotherapeutic resistance. In MMTV-cNeuTg/Tg mice, which model HER2/Neu-amplified breast cancer, baseline L–R differences in mammary gene expression are amplified, sustained or inverted in a gene-specific manner and the mammary ductal epithelium undergoes L–R asymmetric growth and patterning. Comparative genomic analysis of mouse L–R mammary gene expression profiles with gene expression profiles of human breast tumors revealed significant linkage between right-sided gene expression and decreased breast cancer patient survival. Collectively, these findings are the first to demonstrate that mammary glands are lateralized organs, and, moreover, that mammary glands have L–R differential susceptibility to HER2/Neu oncogene-mediated effects on ductal epithelial growth and differentiation. We propose that intrinsic molecular laterality may have a role in L–R asymmetric breast tumor incidence and, furthermore, that interplay between the L–R molecular landscape and oncogene activity may contribute to the differential disease progression and patient outcome that are associated with tumor situs.